World Banking Leaders See AI Agents as Industry's Greatest Vulnerability, with Thailand Reporting Heightened Risks

In a new global survey of 1,440 fraud-management, anti-money laundering (AML), and risk and compliance leaders across 25 countries on five continents commissioned by BioCatch — which prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior — the data shows a distinct variance between local and international markets. While 84% of global banking leaders recognize AI agents as the industry's greatest exploitable vulnerability over the next year, that number reaches 100% among the 80 senior banking professionals surveyed in Thailand.

The study also highlights a rampant year-over-year growth of fraud globally. Worldwide, respondents reporting increasing fraud attempts at their organization rose from 71% in 2025 to 81% in 2026. More significantly, those reporting increasing year-over-year fraud losses grew from 59% to 76%. Nearly half of those surveyed globally say their organization loses more than $10 million a year to fraud, 20% lose more than $25 million, and 5% lose more than $50 million.

"AI is starting to reshape how customers interact with e-commerce sites and financial institutions and will change how criminals execute fraud and other financial crimes," BioCatch CEO Gadi Mazor said. "As digital interactions continue to grow faster, more automated, and increasingly driven by agents, we must move beyond static identity checks and toward a deeper and immediate understanding of behavior, intent, and trust."

Key Findings: Thailand's Heightened Threat Landscape

The survey reveals that Thailand's financial sector faces specific fraud metrics that significantly exceed global baselines.

• Escalating Fraud & Financial Impact: 88% of Thai banking leaders surveyed report increasing year-over-year fraud losses at their institution (vs. 76% globally), with 49% tracking annual losses above $10 million.

• Surging Threat Volume: 96% of Thai respondents state that fraud attempts are actively increasing, and 96% believe AI has heightened the sophistication of these schemes (vs. 88% globally).
• Active Exposure to AI Attacks: 93% of those surveyed in Thailand say their bank has already encountered active agentic AI attacks, and 61% are currently battling automated phishing threats — outpacing global baselines of 80% and 48%, respectively.

• Extreme Operational Challenges: Thai respondents report the highest levels of skepticism regarding identity validation of any country surveyed:
  • 94% find distinguishing between legitimate and malicious AI agents very or extremely challenging (vs. 72% globally).
  • 84% express deep concern over the accelerating velocity of fraud in their region (vs. 76% globally).

Cross-Industry Cooperation and the Mule Account Silver Lining

To manage these fast-moving threats, Thai banking leaders surveyed — 56% of whom occupy C-suite roles at institutions managing upwards of $10 million to more than $10 billion in assets — are calling for increased cross-industry cooperation. A total of 96% of Thai respondents believe interbank intelligence sharing would have a significant positive impact on their ability to stop fraud and financial crime, compared to 85% globally. Meanwhile, 93% state that gaining real-time intelligence on the receiving account in an interbank transaction would directly improve their capacity to recognize and halt scams, compared to 86% globally.

While localized fraud and technology metrics remain elevated, the data indicates a specific area where Thailand's infrastructure outperforms the global baseline. Thailand appears to excel at identifying mule accounts before any funds transfer; only 14% of Thai banking leaders say their bank typically identifies mule accounts after money has already left the account, whereas the global average stands much higher at 31%.

On a broader scale, maintaining customer trust remains a high priority for international financial institutions. More than 96% of global respondents say their institution measures customer attrition specific to fraud and scam experiences, while 39% cite it as a primary driver of investment decisions. However, implementing imprecise, blanket security defenses appears to introduce a retention penalty, as 68% of global banking leaders believe their organization's approach to fraud prevention and reimbursement has resulted in a net loss of customers. Within that group, 56% attribute client loss to unreimbursed losses, while 44% blame customer attrition on too much operational friction during the daily banking experience.

View the complete interactive report or download a static.pdf to see the complete results.

To explore the findings in greater detail, visit our interactive map, where visitors can compare results across all surveyed countries and access country-specific insights from our research team.

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